Merry Christmas!

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Ward Party with my New Hair!

I needed a serious change with my hair. My hair dresser Natalie is my....(prepare yourself), She is my brother-in-law Stuart's, Fiance Julie's, sister- in-law. Anyways, I love Natalie. And I will miss her. I decided to go totally different than my usual.


And we went to our ward party. And let me tell you...it was Fun! They served us lasagna, salad, and ice cream for dessert. We walked up to the table of lasagna, I looked at Ryan with a very scared face. I was preparing myself to get food poisoning by eating it. Ew. BUT nothing happened and I'm alive. Then there was a gift exchange for the kids and the adults by reading one of those stories that if you say, right or left in the book, you pass the gift right or left...capiche? We walked out of there with toasted macaroons and a bag of dark chocolate Hershey kisses. We took a picture with one of the girls we teach in our Sunday School class, Andrea. She is going to Utah over Christmas so we won't see her again!

Ryan wearing his cute vest from Gap we got for $9

we are still here

Ryan and I feel like there isn't much to blog about right now. We have 2 weeks left in North Carolina. Time has FLOWN by. I'm not sure what has happened since the wedding in August up until now, but all of a sudden it's December and I have to think about packing! We are very excited to drive up to Chicago on the 27th and spend a week with Ryan's family. They are planning a fun week for us! and I've never been to Chicago! I am excited! We are ready to move out of my parents house (even though they are Saints to have us here) but we need to move on!

I don't have any fun pictures of us, but here is Sophie in her new favorite spot in the house.

Elder Wirthlin

Elder Wirthlin died yesterday, December 1st, at his home in Salt Lake City, UT. He was the oldest living Apostle. He was 91 years old. His wife, Elisa, died in 2006. What a beautiful reunion that must have been.

Elder Wirthlin was one of my favorite Apostles. I looked forward to hearing him speak every General Conference. My favorite talk from him was in the Oct 2006 General Conference address entitled "Dark Friday, Bright Sunday."

He says at his conclusion, "No matter how dark our Friday, Sunday will come."

my cute mom

My mom went into Macy's today to exchange something and I guess this lady behind her said, "I really love your SEVEN jeans..." my mom then went onto say, "These aren't Sevens...I got them at Costco."

So after she told me this she goes, "I'm just proud of myself that I knew what Seven's were!" She is a babe. and Go Costco for making some HOT jeans!

turkey? no thanks

It is still a mystery to everyone why I do not eat turkey. My cousins Katie and Cari came to San Diego years ago when we lived there to spend Thanksgiving with us. I guess my dad and I got in a big argument and I, of course being 13, stormed off and didn't eat dinner. Since then (it's been 9 years) I haven't had turkey since. No explanation. I wish I gave up something substantial like chocolate or ice cream...

Anyways. We had a wonderful week! Tuesday night, my brother David and his wife Tiffany and their 21 month old Benjamin, drove up from Jacksonville and met us in Columbia, South Carolina to take my brother Jared through the Temple for the first time. (he is leaving for the MTC in 15 days...YAY!). We had a great night! The session was packed and the spirit was so strong. I love the Temple. We all crashed Tuesday night when we got back to the house.

Both Ryan and I had to work early Wednesday morning but I was able to get off at 12pm. I was SO tired from the day before I took a 4 hr nap, HAHA! Perfect time to get up and eat dinner and Ryan was just pulling up! Wednesday we busted out the ping pong table. I am no expert, but it was fun. My dad kicked everyones butts!


my dad and brother, david

Thursday was a wonderful day! We ate, and ate, and ate....

my sis-in-law Tiffany, brother David, and Ryan and I

Benjamin, my nephew enjoying the beater full of frosting

On Friday, I had to work at the Gap. O the dreaded Black Friday. It wasn't
bad at all! I was okay going in. But, my parents ordered take-out PF Changs (yes please!) and we built a bonfire down by the lake. We had a blast! I forgot my camera at the house so we don't have any document memories...but it will be hard to forget that night! Here is a great candid of me eating PF.

And Christmas is in 3 weeks! My sister, Jillian is flying into town!!! YAY! I can't wait to see her. And on the 27th, Ryan and I are heading up to Chicago! and then onto Rexburg!

A night to remember!!!

I must admit, that it was I who started the plague of Twilight at the Gap. I work in the greatest place. Seriously. I love it. Just about 8 months ago, I gave Twilight to a friend at work. She read it in a day, then passed it to the next. Then it was Tammy, Angie, Lindsey, Carissa, Karen, Kathy, Leigh Ann, Sarah, Jennifer, Jessie, Spring, Erin....you get my point. These poor new "seasonal" employees are probably asked in their interview, "Now, do you read Twilight?" It is the center of most of our conversations while at work. I didn't know that when I passed off this book as a simple gesture that it would start this virus. Well...last night we all requested work off and had a girls dinner and after go see the movie premiere! We had a delightful meal full of laughs and good company and it was great! My Italian meal portion was pathetic but it was so good.

And then came the movie. My opinions are always way out there...but I felt like it was more like an ABC Family "made for TV movie." BUT...it leaves plenty to improve on for the next movie!!

to love me is for you to get to know me!

My sister in law, Chrissy, tagged me to write down 5 things that are weird about myself that you may not know already.

1. Maybe this has been caused by working at the Gap, but I have to fold all of my clothes, and Ryan's too, into the "Gap fold." Jeans and everything. Ryan just looks at me with this, "you're crazy" but I keep folding. It keeps things looking fresh and organized. I know it's only Ryan and I looking into my closet but it keeps my OCD under control...somewhat :-)
2. In junior high, I thought my feet looked HUGE in every pair of shoes that I owned. I went through a very terrible stage of buying my shoes a 1/2-1 size DOWN from what I really wore so my feet would look small. Do not ask me why. I grew our of that phase quickly because my feet were complaining constantly.
3. Which leads into my next quirk, I have long toes. It's true. My dad calls them, sorry if this offends, but the Twin Towers. My pointer and middle twos are basically the same length. Trust me, everyone notices awkwardly long toes. I was teased beyond belief by my siblings and friends. But then I met Ryan and he thinks my feet and toes are perfect! So THERE!
4. My favorite words include:

Kosher

Seriously

No Dice (thanks to Esther Weller)

Regardless

Capiche?

"Bob's your Uncle"* usage is key*

5. My least favorite words: (I'm disgusted in myself for even typing them...ew)

Moist

Moisture

Crust

Lubricant

period (it makes everyone awkward and blush)

coagulate

I TAG: Kristine M, Jessie M, Christina B

dinner at the Hindmarsh's!

Last Sunday, Ryan and I were invited over to our friends, the Hindmarsh's, for dinner. Tom and Greta are the parents of
Ella (2 years)

and Audrey (almost 1 year)

I used to watch Ella and Audrey once/twice a week. I stopped babysitting about 6 weeks ago because Greta quickly found a great fit to watch the girls. I have missed the girls so much! We had so much fun together! Lots of Dora and Yo Gabba Gabba!! Greta told me that she had told Ella, "Meagan is coming over tomorrow!" and Ella screamed my name, "MEAGAN!" and ran to the door to watch for me. Greta then said, "She is coming over tomorrow, not today." So, when Ryan and I came over on Sunday, she ran to me and gave me a huge hug! She is such a sweetie! And I can't believe it but Audrey is taking her first steps, and has been for the last few weeks. She isn't even 1 yet! Greta and Tom prepared a wonderful roast and mashed potato dinner and for dessert was a beautiful cake! YUM! It had chocolate frosting on the outside and the filling had strawberries....YUM! We love the Hindmarsh's!

"It could have been so bad..."

My younger brother Jared FINALLY received his mission call. He left for Calgary, Alberta, Canada last Sunday to go visit his cousin, Craig who had just gotten home from his mission and to see all the family. We were notified by the Stake President on Friday, Oct 31 that SLC had changed his status to "Call Issued" so we knew the call was arriving in the mail while Jared was in Canada. Well, low and behold, a large white envelope arrived on Friday, Nov 7 so we had to wait 2 LONG days for Jared to arrive home. He decide to open his call alone in his room. He came out saying....

Arcadia California Spanish speaking!!! He kept saying, "It could have been so bad..." I laughed so hard! He was like, I seriously was imagining myself reading, Warsaw, Poland because sometimes the Church does crazy things like that!

He leaves December 17th!!!!!! And my mom will tell you, it's 5 1/2 weeks away!!!

We are planning on taking him through the Columbia Temple on November 25th. I can't wait! I love that Temple so much. This has been such a miracle in the Steele family. We are so excited that he will have this experience. He made a list of his 'Top 10' and California was listed as 7. He is so thrilled, and Ryan is pumped to write him letters in Spanish!

I'm not your Friend!

My McCain/Palin shirt is now officially my bedtime shirt.

....
....
and yes, Ryan is now reading Eclipse

November 3rd

Today celebrates my grandmother's birthday!

My Oma and Opa on their wedding day. Oma passed away almost 7 years ago. I love her. She was so beautiful. I always looked up to her. She was the cutest little German lady and her Canadian accent would make you smile. Her and my Opa worked so hard to create a great life for my mom and her siblings.

Last year, it was time for me to go through the Temple. We decided to drive up to Washington D.C. and to also have my older brother, David fly out considering he served his mission in Baltimore, Maryland. I went through the Temple on my Oma's birthday. And I wore her beautiful Temple dress (and got married in it too!). I could definitely feel her presence there. I will always remember November 3rd.

Status Change

My younger bro, Jared, is about to receive his mission call. Our stake President emailed him last night and said "SLC issued your call." Which means, call-DONE, to-be-mailed...NOW. So, we're expecting his call at the end of next week. Unfortunately for us, he is flying back to the mother land (O CANADA) tomorrow to visit his cousin, Craig, and all the Steele Folk. I think he will be gone for a week/10 days. I asked very politely if I can open it while he was gone, and he said, "ya whatever" but my dad almost had a heart attack. I'll be patient and wait. Any guesses where he might go?
Our family guesses:
Dad: "I need to really think about this one" (like Papa Steele has some unknown psychic powers...?)
Mom: Germany. Bless her heart. She is all about her German roots.
Ryan: New Mexico. Ryan thinks Jared will handle the Natives well I guess...Not sure.
Me: POLAND...hahaha no....I said San Francisco. Jared is a proud Republican,...I think it would challenge him to be in such a liberal area.

Stay TUNED!!!

It was a HALLOWEEN to Remember!

This was the first Halloween in 3 years where I said to myself, "I think I could do something cute this year. Something couple oriented considering I have a cute husband now to dress up with." The past years I have been (shout out girls) a dead camper, a homeless woman/bag lady and a punk rocker. I woke up one morning in a sweat last week and thought, Next year I might not fit into my High School cheerleading uniform, maybe opps pregnant or too chubby...who knows. So I said to myself, YOU WILL BE CUTESIE this year! and I had Ryan along for the ride as my Football Player "Boyfriend." Well...plans changed. One thing led to another and the story kept building, and this is what we came up with.

The vampire Cheerleader and her vampire Lacrosse boyfriend....we got carried away with the blood and makeup but hey...it was super fun to put eye liner and lipstick on Ryan!

Getting ready...

At our friends Brad and Hailey. They threw a party and this is us after we washed our faces...

This is Brad and Hailey. They are our friends! We love them. Hailey was the best hostess! She had party favors and everything! We enjoyed some wonderful punch, cheesey mushrooms, yummy brownies and cute witch hat cookies! We played a wild round of Apples to Apples...trust me, it got a bit political. We had a great time and we won the best costume....and our prize was Teen Wolf 1 and 2! A combo DVD!

Sophie the Witch!

Our neighbor, Susan, let us borrow this costume for Sophie. It was the greatest because my dad walked into the house and Sophie just walks right in with this ridiculously looking witch costume and I told her to sit so I could take pictures of her. She seriously didn't move for 5 minutes. She just sat on the floor while we were laughing and taking pictures. What a gem. (she looks very mangey because it's been 4 weeks since she was groomed! Appt is tomorrow!)

Look at what we saw today!

Papa Briggs came to Charlotte for 24 hrs!

My father in law, Larry, came into town today unfortunately for a funeral of a coworker. Ryan and I were able to meet up with him for dinner! We had a blast! We have definitely missed Ryan's family since they moved to Chicago. Larry gave us the latest update on the family and the house. We found out this week that everyone, except baby Joshua have a calling in their new ward! They have been in Chicago since the beginning of September and they are all serving in the Ward. What a blessing for the ward! We miss them SO much! Thanks for dinner Larry! We love you!

Larry said that we looked "healthy." Ryan and I both said that we eat well which makes us chubby. It is okay because in 2 months we will be living in very cold conditions. Fortunately, we will lose weight because we'll be shivering so violently!

Halloween House gone WRONG!

Ryan's mom surprised us with a Halloween package in the mail last week. And inside was this adorable ginger bread house pre-made, with packaged frosting, candy and pictures of decorating ideas.

I was SO excited to make it! We first popped in Hocus Pocus! Love that movie! And Ryan has NEVER seen it. I was shocked. Then we took the ginger bread house out of the box and sometime during the trip from Chicago to Charlotte one of the peaks on the house crumbled. While I mixed up the frosting, Ryan fixed the roof. I was a bit nervous to eat the frosting because it hardened like glue. Ryan was getting pretty annoyed of me because 1. I kept eating the candy, 2. I love using EVERYTHING, so the house looks cluttered, and 3. I kept messing up his design. Ryan frosted basically everything after I messed up the windows...My excuse is that I made the orange frosting too thin! I swear. But, all the added candy touches are mine! And this is what we came up with! I love you Dolly! Thanks for thinking of us and sending us the house!

Ryan's side

My side (I realize I'm no Martha Stewart)It's fine if you laugh, I'm not offended.

We both LOVE Halloween so we had lots of fun!

I really love my...

You know when you were younger and you said, "I really love my Barbi. Because her hair is so blonde and she is so stylish." Or when you said, "I really love my eye lash curler because it gives me curl and flare."

I never thought I would say...

I REALLY LOVE MY VACUUM!

It doesn't need any bags so it's easy to clean up.
It has an extendible duster arm to get ceiling fans, cupboards, etc...

I can finally understand why my Mom always wanted new kitchen/house hold appliances and so on. BECAUSE you use them So often that you need to use the best! Ooo the joys of new womanhood. I have become my Mother.

Blessings Do Come!!

I'm not sure why I am doubting now because I have seen time and time again in the past the blessings that come from paying tithing, but before I didn't have 10 bills to pay a month. We have been continually paying our tithing; Ryan having more faith than me. Sometimes it's hard to understand, ok, so we have to pay for this, this, and this, oh ya, and tithing too. To add, trying to figure out the best possible way to find health care for me for 4 months, was such a pain! After talking to many different companies, we decided just to add me onto Ryan's health care through his work. It is more expensive, but it covers everything. You know how often I love my teeth cleaned! It's important.

After a couple of weeks, my faith and trust in the Lord increased with General Conference and I knew that Ryan and I would be taken care of as long as we continue to pay a faithful tithing. Last week, we noticed on Ryan's last two paychecks that we hadn't been charged for health care and his HR said that we might be double charged in one paycheck. I had been stressing all week...dreading this weeks paycheck. BUT (GOOD NEWS), Ryan's HR told him today that they had also noticed that we weren't getting charged even though we were still covered. She told Ryan that they weren't going to double charge at all because we didn't have control over it. So...my fellow blog readers, pay your tithing. Faithfully and honestly. And-if you can, throw in a generous fast offering too.

Corn Maze Craziness!!!

(this is Ryan writing)

So we went to a corn maze with our friends Brad and Hailey Kemper who I have known for quite a while (Brad 11 years and Hailey through Brad for 7)
It was in Indian Trail NC, which is pretty much the Boondocks. But we had a great time it wasn't quite cold enough for my taste but it still helped us get into the Halloween and Autumn feeling. The first thing we did was stop by a big cotton field which Meagan got super excited about because it was her first time ever seeing one. So we took some cool pics of us picking cotton (no pun intended).


Then we went to the maze and most of the people there were completely redneck but it is alwasy fun to be around those kind of people.
We finished the maze in about a half hour and then went to grab something to eat at the Fox and the Hound in the Balantyne area. Overall a fun night here in NC where in October it is still in the mid 70's to lower 80's!

It doesn't have to match, it just has to go...

Here are some fun New Arrivals at the GAP this season...
The Button Sleeved Turtleneck...comes in lots of yummy colors...but watch out, it's 20% wool.

Ruffle Bib Printed Shirt....someone at work said that it looked "very organic, very Meagan" should I be offended?
Tweed button-front skirt...totally cute with a tucked in woven or light sweater
Straight leg cords! I LOVE THESE!

Fingerless gloves...definitely pumped to wear these in Rexburg, Idaho!

just about lost it today

all I have to say, is that every American, needs to work at a retail job, during one of the busiest times of year, to truly understand the concepts of:
patience
understanding
service
charity
I about quit my job today. But-....I didn't. Only 3 more sorry months of stupid Christmas shoppers thinking we have a sweat shop in the back of the store making these clothes.

we have a place to live in Rexburg!

HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Village called us today to let us know they got our application and they are processing it! YAY! We got a 2 bdrm apartment and we are SO excited. We will be in there for at least 1 year. We are SO excited. It's a gorgeous complex with so many wonderful amenities. I can't wait to decorate!

Tagged....just some info about Ryan

1- Where did you meet? Institute!! He had come in late to class because his night class went over, and I heard his voice. After class, a few people were like, "you're new...?" and I noticed Ryan leave the class. So I tracked him down. haha and I'm pretty sure the first thing I said to him was, "I'm going on a mission!" good times.

2- How long did you date before you were married? 11 months

3- How long have you been married for? almost 2 months!

4- What does he do that surprises you? brings home flowers and mushy cards! I love it!

5- What's your favorite feature about him? his smile.

6- What's your favorite quality about him? he is so sincere about everything. and supports me in everything in my life. he has a way of calming me down and keeping me grounded.

7- Does he have a nickname for you? What is it? baby

8- What's his favorite color? any shade of blue

9- What's his favorite food? Thai all the way

10-What is his favorite sport? Lacrosse and golf

11- Who said I love you first? Ryan said it first. With the whole mission confusion, it made the i love you moments really intense.

12- When and where was your fist kiss? in this totally small apartment my parents and I were living in while our house was being built. It was by the front door when he was about to leave. We kissed for like 20 seconds and said bye. We talked months after and laughed how awkward it was because I was his first post-mission kiss!

13- What's your favorite thing to do as a couple? going on walks or being outside, going out for dinner

14- Do you have kids? How many? no kids, want 3-5 haha I want 3-4, he wants 4-5.

15- What's a hidden talent that he has? I wouldn't say it's hidden, but he has seen just about every weird 1980's movie...like, the Goonies and The Lost Boys....

16- How old is he? 25

17- What's his favorite type of music? alternative, old rock, whatever classifies Coheed and Cambria

18- What do you admire most about him? his love for family. Mostly, his mom and sister's. He is the most caring person. He even rubs my feet!

19- What's his favorite past time? playing Lacrosse on his High School team. He was MVP his senior year.

20- Do you think he's going to read this? maybe, he's watching me trying it and wondering what I'm doing :-)